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Tag: transition

Visual Schedules

Importance of Schedules and Routines

Just like adults, children feel more confident and secure when their daily activities are predictable and familiar. Consistent daily schedules and step-by-step routines give children a predictable, safe day. Schedules and routines help children:

  • Feel in control of their environment
  • Feel safe, secure, and comfortable
  • Know what is happening now and what comes next
  • Know how to do an activity or task

However, what happens when you have a change in schedule or routine?  Does your toddler or child melt down or show big behaviors?  An unexpected schedule change or a change in their routine can be upsetting and stressful. If your child is struggling when transitioning between tasks or with changes in schedule or routine, BDI Playhouse recommends you use simple visual schedules to make those transitions and changes smoother.

What is a visual schedule?

A visual schedule is an image-based tool that helps support children of all ages. It presents a sequence of events for what is going to happen during a specific task, during an activity, or throughout the day.  Visual schedules help individuals complete a sequence of tasks or activities, attend to tasks, transition from one task to another, or maintain emotional regulation in various settings.

A visual schedule may use a sequence of photographs, videos, illustrations, or other visual elements that help your child understand what they are expected to do.  The visual schedule can be virtual on your phone or printed on paper.

Benefits of Using Visuals

  • Provides clarity and predictability in routine which allows a feeling of control (reducing anxiety or confusion)
  • Provides concrete visual information for (can make something abstract feel concrete, such as the length of time before an activity will be over).
  • Reduces behaviors caused by frustration, confusion, anxiety.
  • Provides a critical avenue for visual learners to understand and retain information.
  • Serves as a virtual “contract” for completing expectations and delivering rewards.
  • Assists in building independent routines with better success (such as packing a backpack, washing hands, or cleaning up after snack).
  • Helps children know what to expect and/or what the expectation is so that they don’t have to fear what will happen or become impatient and frustrated.

How to create your own visual schedule

  1. Identify your Target/Routine for the schedule
  2. Choose the type of visual that will be most meaningful to the child: 
    • Photographs of the child/child’s environment
    • Real life images
    • Line drawings 
    • Clipart
    • Text writing only
  3. Keep language simple and direct
  4. Involve the child in preparation
  5. Involve other caregivers

Easy Resources for Visual Schedules

If you find that your child is still having difficulty when you have a change in schedule or routine or need help learning how to use a visual schedule, contact BDI Playhouse to set up a free screening with one of our pediatric occupational therapists or speech language pathologists.  We can help you help your child!

Back to School

Back to School Transition Strategies

Back to School Emotions

August means back to school is right around the corner!  Back to school means transitioning to new schools, new teachers, new peers, new expectations and new routines! Many kids are excited about the anticipation of a new school year, but for many kiddos “new” can be scary and worrisome. 

Children can communicate their emotions through a variety of behaviors. It’s important as parents and caregivers to be aware of these behaviors to help our kiddos manage their emotions and provide opportunity for a successful transition back to school!

The best way to help our kiddos with new tasks is by creating predictability and maintaining consistency in their routines.  This will help ease their worry and fear while building their confidence for success.

 Simple Strategies to Help Back to School Transition: 

Waking and Bedtime Schedule

We all fall into the summer slump of less structure and organization in the routine of our days. Beginning at least a month prior to the first day of school, begin  implementing a waking and bedtime schedule that will mirror your child’s school time routine.

Visual calendar count down

Time is a vague concept for young kids, so counting the “number of sleeps” until school starts is a meaningful way to incorporate how many days until the first day of school.

Social Stories

Read social stories and talk about expectations for the new school year.  Don’t forget to highlight important details that you know they are looking forward to (including a favorite teacher, familiar classmates, exciting activities they are looking forward to that year), but also recognize and discuss novel tasks that may cause stress (such as attending at a new building, bus rides, lunchtime, whatever it may be).

New Peer Playdates

Reach out to local parent/community groups to set-up park meet-ups/ playdates to become familiar with new peers.

Trial Run

Do a trial run before school starts. Drive by your child’s school to create familiarity.  Is there a park accessible to play at? Go play to create positive experiences associated with the school. This will help to see where you might have some bumps getting on the road and need to tweek parts of your morning routine.

Label feelings

Validate their feelings. Use visuals when you can. Provide your child with a ‘toolbox” of calming strategies to attain/maintain a feeling of calmness throughout their day.

Model Confidence

Model your confidence to make them feel confident (even if you have to fake it); kids feed off of our emotions. This includes talk enthusiastically about what a positive experience this will be, avoid lingering at drop-offs and encourage participation in new activities.

Back to School Mantra

Create a mantra to repeat out loud.  “I am safe” is one of my favorites!

List of Resources

Below are a list of resourceful links to provide more information about typical/atypical behaviors, countdown calendars, addressing feelings and visuals for calming strategies:

  1. Managing Behavior Strategies
  2. Social Story
  3. Journals
  4. Emotions for Kids
  5. Back to School Countdown

Don’t forget, what may seem like a minor problem to us as adults, feels like a BIG problem to our kiddos, especially when they are learning to recognize and handle their big emotions.  Make the experience easier for them by  remaining calm if things do not go as planned, or their reactions don’t meet our expectations. Don’t forget to model flexibility to bumps in routines.  Also,  remember that changes don’t happen overnight and give your child time to settle into their new routines! If things don’t get easier and you would like some additional strategies, please schedule a screening with one of our therapists to help find individualized strategies for you and your child.

Written by Jamie Blough